Appliance for the transport of railway cars on streets



Oct. 27, 1936. J. CULEMEYER 2,058,955

APPLIANCE FOR THE TRANSPbRT OF RAILWAY CARS QN STREETS e Sheets-Sheet 1Filed Nov. 25, 1932 Oct. 27 1936. J. CULEMEYER APPLIANCE FOR THETRANSPORT OF RAILWAY CARS 0N STREETS Filed Nov. 25, 1952 6 Sheets-Sheet2 ,mmk 'jipfiann cuzem y Oct. 27, 1936. J CULEMEYER 2,058,955

- APPLIANCE FQR'THE TRANSPORT OF RAILWAY CARS ON STREETS Filed Nov. 25,1932 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 MWeXe/ //v wen/ 2k Oct. 27, 1936.

J. CULEMEYER 2,058,955 APPLIANCE FOR THE TRANSPORT OF RAILWAY CARS ONSTREETS Filed Nov. 25, 1952 I 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 Oct; 27, 1936. J.CULEMEYER 2,058,955.

APPLIANCE FOR THE TRANSPORT OF RAILWAY CARS ON STREETS 6 Sheets-Sheet 5Filed Nov. 25, 1932.

Jay /2.

Oct. 27, 1936. J. CULEMEYER APPLIANCE FOR THE TRANSPORT OF RAILWAY CARS0N STREETS Filed Nov. 25, 1932 e Sheets-Sheet es E LL:

65, Q a l) Patented Oct. 27, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT oFiucE APPLIANCEFOR THE TRANSPORT OF RAILWAY CARS ON STREETS Application November 25,1932, Serial No. 644,353

In Germany October 5, 1931 t 8' Claims.

The present invention refers to an appliance for the transport ofrailway cars on streets.

The known appliances for transporting railway cars on streets sufferfrom serious drawbacks not only in regard to the low position of therailway car in view of the head-way of under-line passages, but alsoregarding the steering capacity, the necessary distribution of the loadand elas ticity of springs. In frequent cases steering capacity isprovided by means of a bogie-like superstructure with continuous axles,sometimes even without springs, resulting in a comparatively greatconstruction depth. The wheels are also not able to adapt themselvessufficiently to the defects of the roads. The stresses on theunderframe, on the axles and especially on the road are in that casecomparatively great. As a. result, such appliances will permit onlytransportation of low railway cars with small loads-in view also of thehigh dead-weight of the appliance itself.

The present invention does away with these.

drawbacks and defects by usingin the appliance as a carrying unit foreach wheel of every rail way car axle or every two wheels lyingone behind the other of multiple axle railway cars one separate rail pieceprovided ,with street wheels. An advantage is obtained by reducing theconstruction depth and guiding also the sides of the railway car wheelsby not using standard rail- 7 piece for the latter purposes, butsubstituting for the same a flat running tread with side cheeks,

and, especially if further the respective rail sections are giventhrough shape, a very robust construction will be obtained. The load maybe placed still lower if these rail sections are underslung or providedwith parts that may be lowered by parallel or shearing motion so thatthe railway cars Will be as little elevated above the floor as possibleIn order to assure connection between the street underframes carryingthe single axles, without necessitating the transmission of all forcesoverthe axles and the underframe of the under the existing operatingconditions. The intermediate connecting elements may bekept in stock ofvarious standardized length or adjustable in length, or of a telescopingcharacter, so that the whole street vehicle can be adjusted to the usuallengths or axle distances of railway cars. For transporting empty carsthe intermediate element may be detached and placed upon the individualunderframe after pushing the latter together. In thismanner it is alsopossible to transport parcels alone, inwhich case the intermediateelement supplies suflicient strengthening' of the underframe without thenecessity even of making the intermediate member very robust. Ifrequired, intermediate elements of a specially substantial constructionmay be kept in stock. For rolling the railway car on and off, wedges areplaced below the intermediate member or it is removed altogether andloading is carried out in the-manner described further on.

In order to place the railway car aslow as possible in view of thecomparatively small head- .way of the under-line passages and in orderto avoid, nevertheless, the drawbacks connected with a normal streetvehicle which carries the load at a low level, is loaded with diflicultyand apt to run against obstacles on the road, according to the inventionthe intermediate element may be placed high notwithstanding the lowposition of the tread or carrying web, especially between the adjacentstreet wheels, where the railway car wheels are supported. Therespective lengths of the underslung portions must be sufilcient toreceive railway cars of different axle distances without altering thetotal length of the entire street vehicle.

The reduction of the street vehicle into individual underframes ofcourse results in a more concentrated load and stress on the road- Way.This is specially objectionable in regard to the forward or front bogie,because immediately in front thereof the high rear axle pressure of thetractor takes effect on the roadway, so that a local accumulation ofhigh axle pressures is produced. This may be objected to especially whencrossing bridges, the more so, as a tractor which is a tractor onlyshould have a comparatively high frictional weight of the rear axle inorher to produce the required tractional capacity on rising gradients.The invention shows, therefore, the mode of producing in such cases thefrictional weights required for locomotion without the describeddrawbacks and without objectionable dead weight of the tractor rearaxle, and neither a self-contained motor apt to prevent locomotionaltogether in the case of faiiure to work, nor a troublesome Cardandrive are recommended for utilizing the underframe axle pressures byacting as frictional weights, but it is rather recommended to constructthe single front underframe as a saddle traction trailer for the tractorwhereby it becomes possible to use a tractor with a very low pressure ofthe rear axle merely sumcient for the locomotion of the tractor itself.

The reduction of the street vehicle into single trucks and the resultingmotile independence of the individual trucks one from the other willpermit with advantage also of tilting the carried railway car on end,and this, as a principle, in two respects, namely in order to actuate,on the one hand, the tilting mechanism itself by pushing the truckstogether, and on the other hand also, in order to increase the maximumtilting angle by raising the tilting level by pushing the truckstogether, or in order to start the tilting process by tilting up aself-contained compendious tilting device that is in a lowered positionduring locomotion. For these operations of the single trucks or for thesimultaneous actuation of the tilting mechanism the tractor can also beused directly or indirectly, in the latter case e. g. as a driving motorwith flexible shaft connection and corresponding connecting clutches ofthe gears. Also the steering devices, as a rule, by coupling them to thetractor, can be constructed so that the required mobility of theindividual trucks is maintained and nevertheless all raising is avoidedfor any of the wheels. Also the relative displacement of the singletrucks can be attained by means of longitudinally traversing driving andtransmission shafts for steering and eventually also for the break, thislongitudinal drive being adapted to be varied in its efiective length,and appliances being provided, such as coupling and independent drivingmechanisms which permit alternativ operation of the single groups sothat by suitably changing over either a curve-true running of all wheelsor also a parallel or other springing of the wheels can be obtained.This will meet the requirements of rolling on and off side ways incramped localities in regard to the ramps.

In the drawings different modifications are illustrated by way ofexample.

Figs. 1-3 show elevation, ground plan and sectional view of the generalstructure of the transport appliance.

Figs. 4-6 show details to above.

Figs. 7 and 8 correspond to Figs. 1 and 2, excepting that looseintermediate elements are inserted between the single trucks.

Figs. 9-11 display loading and unloading processes.

Figs. 12-13 show a special disposition of the tread web.

Figs. 14-17 represent the single trucks with the use of a saddletractor.

Referring to the drawings in detail and more particularly to the form ofinvention disclosed in Figures 1 to 4, a and a. indicate the wheels of atwo-axle railway car b. Each wheel is supported by a separate rail piece0 which latter is mounted on two short axles d carrying road wheels 6.

Each wheel piece is depressed at the medial portion as indicated at h soas to retain the wheels a a and consists, as shown in Fig. 4, of sidecheeks c and the tread web 0 Each rail piece 0 and its supporting wheelse constitute a truck and each truck illustrated in Figs. 3. and 2includes, as more fully shown in l a pair of springs I connected attheir outer ends with the rail piece 0 by toggle links it. The adjacentends of the springs f are linked to a lever g which latter is pivotallymounted at g to the rail piece 0 The side members of the rail piece 0are slotted to receive the axles d and guide members Each guide piece 1'is provided in its upper portion with a recess receiving the treadportion of the rail piece and is provided on its lower part with asecond recess extending at right angles to the first recess andreceiving the medial portion of the axle d. A pin 70 dis posedhorizontally in the longitudinal axis of the rail piece 0 pivotallyconnects the guide member 1' and the axle d received therein whereby theroad wheels e in traversing an uneven roadway may assume differentelevations, the axle d turning about the pin k.

The medial portion of each spring I is held in a spring clamp llprovided with upright extensions I! which are also pivotally held on thepivot pin is.

Each truck in the modification shown in Figs. 1 and 2 is alsoconstituted by a rail piece 0 and two pairs of road wheels e but in thiscase the two axles d are connected with the terminals of a single springP which is held in a clamp I3 secured to the under side of the railpiece intermediate the ends thereof.

Preferably the trucks of each pair are connected together by a crossmember I the ends of which are connected with the adjacent verticalportions of the rail pieces c Also the road wheels 6. are suitablymounted for steering movement for the purpose of guiding the railway carduring transport. According to the arrangement shown in Fig. 2, axles dare mounted in turn about vertical axes whereby the desired steeringmovement may be impartedto the road wheels e.

According to the arrangement shown in Fig, 2 the mounting of the roadwheels 6 on the terminals of the axles d is the same as that ordinarilyemployed in connection with the front wheels of motor vehicles, that isto say, the terminals of each axle are forked as indicated in Fig. 1 andthe road wheels e are mounted on stub axles pivotally mounted onvertical pins in said forked terminals.

In place of the rail piece sagging at h it is possible also to use astraight rail piece, the tread web of which can be vertically raised andlowered at its middle portion. As is shown, the respective part u of thetread web may either, as shown in Fig. 5, be lowered in a parallelposition into the situation shown in dashed lines, or in the manner ofthe shanks of an articulated parallelogram joint, as shown in Fig. 5*,each of the movable tread portions consists of two parts a u pivotallyconnected at their adjacent ends and movably supported at their outerends on rollers 12 and permitting the lowering of the adjacent ends ofthe tread members.

The vertically movable tread member u shown in Fig. 5 is adjustable bymeans of a screw it having the opposite end oppositely threaded andengaged with nuts b Each tread member u is connected by links c 0 withthe nuts b and b whereby when the screw a is rotated in one directionthe links 0 are brought to the vertical position shown in full lines toraise the tread member u but when rotated in the opposite direction thenuts I) are moved outwardly thereby tilting the links 03 causing thetread member u to lower. According to the arrangement shown in Fig. 5,the same'screw a, nuts b and I) and links 0 and c are provided but inthis case the links act to lower the jointed endsof the tread members uand u when the nuts b and b are moved apart.

For no-load travelling the rail pieces positioned one behind the othermay, as shown in Fig. 6, be coupled one to the other by any type I ofclamping or coupling w. In this case the shafts p and q are completelypushed one into the other.

a This type of coupling results in that the vehicle is of little lengthandthat the single trucks are prevented from running athwart in relationto each other.

According to the Figs. 7 and 8 the same spring mounting of the axles dis employed as shown in Fig. 1 intermediate elements :1: areinterpositioned between the travelling rail pieces 0, said elementsbeing also of rail profile. The connection at points y is easilydetached e. g. by providing socket connections such as shown.

In the loading arrangement shown in Fig. 9 the railway car 1) runs froma head ramp 2 onto the trucks pushed closely together, in such manner,that first the forward railway car axle a rolls over the trucks adjacentto the ramp and the depression portion h of which has been filled out bya suitably shaped section rail piece t, and is made to run onto the reartrucks into the depression therein. Now these trucks are detached fromthe others and are moved along with the railway vehicle, so that thewheels a roll into the depression h of the forward truck after havingfirst removed the rail piece t. All trucks are now in proper travellingposition, so that the intermediate elements a: can be inserted andfixed.

As evident from Figs. 10 and 11 loading is carried out in such manner,that the trucks are placed in front and at the rear of the, railway car.Now a rolling-on ramp 2 is placed ahead of the one truck as per Fig. 10and the railway car is pushed in the direction of the arrow to positionits axle wheels 0. onto the truck. Now the ramp 2 is placed between axleand wheels a and the correspondingly advanced truck as shown in Fig. 11.By making the railway car travel in the direction' of arrow in Fig. 11,the wheel set a is placed in a lower position, whereas the tread web ismade to rise in continuation thereto and runs up to a higher levelcorresponding to the greater height of the side check at theintermediate element x. In designing the definite and accurateconstruction reference should be made to the clearance limits whenrolling on and ad the railway car so as to prevent low positioned partsof the car from meeting obstructions. Special insert sections may beprovided for filling up temporarily the depression of the tread webs 0when rolling the car on and off. Each rail beam consists, as evidentfrom Fig. 13, of two vertical flanges or side cheeks 0 connected by thetread web 0*, the dimensions of which correspond to the wheel and gaugeprofile of the railway wheels.

According to Fig. 14 the front truck '0 is provided with the rear axlesd and the small front distance of the I ment adapted to fill out thewheels e ,whichcan be swung upward by means of the adjustable brackets dand may be constructed as a saddle traction trailer so that the forwardraised frame head 0 may be placed upon the saddle of bogie B of tractorA, whereby the frictional weight of the rear'axle B of the tractor isincreased corresponding to the supporting and load-point distances oftruck 0.

Intermediate the frame of truck 0 and the railway, car underframe,guides c are provided, which are in the form of stakes or stake strapsof truck 0. The two stakes at the rear, may bearranged against the sidesills of the railway car and the front strap, around the centrelongitudinal sill of the railway car underframe, the arrangement beingsuch that a horizontal swerving of the forward truck 0 against therailway car is prevented in the horizontal direction with outrestricting jthe vertical straps may be arranged reversible and ma befitted to the rear truck.

As seen in Figs-15 and 16 the forward truck 2 may be joined up to thesaddle on the tractor in a loaded state or prior to rolling the railwaycar onto the truck. For the latter case a specially suitable method isshown in Fig. 16 consisting in that the trucks are first pushed togethervery closely and then against the head ramp 2, so that a continuousrailway is formed up to the forward truck 0, and in doing so, thedepression in the rail beam of the rear truck can be filled up byinserting a suitable filling piece t. By means of the winch D on thetractor and the rope E the railway car b can be drawn upon the track. Tothis end the car is first drawn forward by means of the arrangementshown in Fig. 16 to a point, where the front axle of the railway cartakes up its proper position on truck 0 and now the tractor A advancestogether with truck 0 until the distance between the trucks correspondsto the axle railway car. During the latter movement the winch D remainsarrested so that, at the same tme, the railway car is brought into itsproper position as shown in Fig. 14.

I claim: 7

1. An appliance for transporting railway cars on streets comprising arail piece for each wheel of the railway car, each rail piece includinga girder having a fiat tread web and side cheeks adapted to guide andsupport the railway car wheels,, at least two short axles arranged onebehind the other directly supporting each rail piece\ individually, androad wheels carried by said axles and arranged on both sides of saidrail piece.

2. An appliance for transporting railway cars on streets comprising arail piece for each wheel of the railway car, each rail piece includinglinked sections adapted to lower the car wheel supported thereon, atleast two short axles arranged one behind the other directly supportingeach rail piece individually, and road wheels carried by said axles andarranged piece.

3. An appliance for transporting railway cars on streets comprising arail piece for each wheel of the railway car,- each rail piece includinga depressed medial portion and an adjustable eledepressed portion, atleast two short axles arranged one behind the other directly supportingeach rail piece individually, and road wheels carried by said axles andarranged on both sides of said rail piece.

4. An appliance for transporting railway cars on streets comprising arail piece for each wheel of the railway car, at least two shortaxlesarranged play. Stake. and

one behind the other under each rail piece and movable vertically withrespect to said rail piece; springs supporting said axles, compensatingmeans connecting said springs, and road wheels carried by said axles andarranged on both sides of said rail piece.

5. An appliance for transporting railway cars on streets comprising arail piece for each wheel of the railway car, at least two short axlesarranged one behind the other directly supporting each rail pieceindividually, road wheels carried by said axles and arranged on bothsides of said rail piece, and a detachable intermediate elementconnecting the rail pieces carrying the car wheels.

6. An appliance for transporting railway cars on streets comprising arail piece for each wheel of the railway car, at least two short axlesarranged one behind the other directly supporting each rail pieceindividually, road wheels carried by said axles and arranged on bothsides of said rail piece, and a frame piece hung between said railpieces.

'7. An appliance for transporting railway cars on streets comprisingrail pieces for each wheel of the railway car, at least two short axlesarranged one behind the other directly supporting each rail pieceindividually, road wheels carried by said axles and arranged on bothsides 0! said rail piece, and cross trusses intermediate the railpieces.

8. An appliance for transporting railway cars on streets comprising arail piece for each wheel of the railway car. at least two short axlesarranged one behind the other directiy supporting each rail pieceindividually, road wheels carried by said axles and arranged on bothsides of said rail piece, a trough-shaped element connecting the ends ofthe rail pieces, the medial portions of the rail pieces being depressed.

JOHANN CULEMEYER.

